The Five-Day Nightmare — Fredric Brown

The clock is ticking as a husband frantically tries to save his abducted wife in this fast-paced crime novel by “a real pro” (The New York Times Book Review).
 
Twenty-five grand if he wants his wife back alive. That's the demand on the ransom note Lloyd Johnson found sitting in his typewriter. It has to be in unmarked bills -- and it has to be delivered in five days.
 
To make it worse, the kidnapper dropped the names of his previous victims -- one who'd made it back home to her husband, and one who hadn't. Armed with this information, Johnson hopes further investigation of those cases will improve his -- and his wife's -- chances. But the more he learns, the worse things look, and time is running out, in this twisting tale by the Edgar Award�"winning author.